Best Experiences

sterlingmossy

sterlingmossy

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Jan 27, 2018
Messages
66
Location
Wilmette
One of the best/worst things about life after FIRE is that you can wake up and choose to do anything with your day or week or month that you like. It is great because you can do literally anything. It is worst because sometimes you can't think of something new, intriguing, challenging to do. You imagination is your limit. I am looking for inspiration.

Since fire what have your top (day long or week long or month long) experiences been?
 
I have been building a cabin for the past 2 years. My dad has been helping me and it has been a great bonding experience. It’s been challenging as I had no building experience prior to this project. Plus we amped up the challenge by keeping the budget really low, which forced us to find creative solutions and recycle materials.

I’ve also taken up sketching and watercoloring. I practice on a daily basis. It’s a great motivator to get out of the house and drive or walk to somewhere beautiful and paint on location. I’m lucky to have a large variety of spectacular subjects nearby as they provide a lot of inspiration. And I also like to sketch when I go on vacation. It’s a way to bring back unique memories.
 
The first 5 to 7 years of retirement was by far "The best of times". I was "into" my hobbies nearly 100% of the time. The next 2 or 3 years I started winding all of them down, especially the more physically demanding ones. Now I've traded ~50% of the time I was spending on hobbies by going to doctors (both DW and I) and/or taking longer naps :). I must say, hobbies were a lot more fun. Still dabbling in several of my lifelong hobbies, just at a reduced level. "The worse of times" are still some years out but I'm afraid there's no escaping them.

Now that I have some spare time, it's time to re-read Dickens, Tale of Two Cities,:) and other classics.
 
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Spending more time on hobbies, radio control model airplanes and photography. More recently though the limitations have been either my or my wife's physical limitations of back issues for both of us, and cardiac and shoulder issues for me. Recently though we bought a new and much faster PC and what I had originally thought was a reason for slowing down with photography was my own physical issues, but part of it was that Lightroom and Photoshop were a pain to use on the previous computer. I had forgotten what a difference a fast computer makes with those programs. So we'll see how long that new enthusiasm lasts. That computer bag didn't get any lighter.
 
We traveled by RV between 1986-2021 (we FIRE'd in 2005 & 2006). The wife and I were school crossing guards for many years; we both were Judges of Election for many years; I was a docent/host at our local History Museum; and we oversaw major remodeling projects for our home. We were bissss-eeeeeee!

We are now, happily, not involved in any of that or anything else. Sometimes I/we sleep in, sometimes not, I try to walk at least a mile each day. My buddies and I go to lunch and b'fast. My wife and her girlfriends do lunch, Bible Study and chat...endlessly! :cool:

To paraphrase the JG Wentworth ad.....It's your time, use it any way you want. Volunteer. Get a part-time job. Take a class. Learn to fly (I did!)
 
Days upon days of playing in my workshop
Travel / road trips through all 50 states
Hiking, especially new places
E-biking
Kayaking
Snowbirding
Hobbies - mainly photography

I seem to be ok when I'm in a place like this:

lake ohara copy 3.jpeg
 
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Hi there! I've been a lurker on these forums for a couple of years, but this topic has finally inspired me to write my first post. I retired from nursing at age 58, in August of 2021. My husband retired from a state job in September of 2020 at age 60. So... not very ER really, but earlier than age 65!
We've taken some great vacations, but it sounds like @sterlingmossy is looking for more day-to-day stuff.

Stuff we have done:
My husband: retired at the height of COVID, and spent a lot of time on a major project- building us a camper out of a brand new, completely empty RAM Promaster van. From insulation and window installation to cabinet building he planned, sourced materials, and if he didn't know how to do something he watched YouTube to learn it. We now have an ALMOST finished campervan with heat, solar panels/power, refrigerator, fan, running water, toilet and bed. There are some minor cosmetic details left to complete. This van allowed us to ski the 2020-2021 season without worrying about catching COVID in a ski lodge. We've gone on many trips near to home and far away in it. I am in awe of what he has been able to create.
He is also a mountain biker, and recently bought and is customizing a touring bike to use to bike pack and do rails-to-trails rides. He also is the "medical coordinator" for his 86 year old mom and her 86 year old husband, which takes a lot of time! He also is constantly completing projects around the house and helping friends with home repairs.

My stuff: I learned to juggle (also off YouTube) and now am taking a class to learn how to do tricks since I have not been able to learn THAT on my own.
I learned to bake sourdough bread, but had to give that up because my waistline was suffering from eating too much bread. I love sourdough.
I leased a horse for two months a in the summer of 2022 and rode 2-3 times a week in the Pike National Forest about 60 minutes from home.
Took one drawing class and two painting classes.
Started worm farming. It doesn't take up much space and the worm droppings are the best fertilizer. I got my best crop of tomatoes ever last year and I am giving the worms all the credit!
Bought an instant pot and learned to use it- love the speed and convenience. We pack it in the van when we travel.
Volunteered with my local women's mountain biking group to lead rides during the summer.
I am taking swimming lessons to try to get good enough to swim for exercise. Also started weight training at the gym, something I never wanted to devote my limited leisure time to when I was still working.
Continued taking agility classes with my 8 year old Australian Shepherd, and enter trials when we are at home and have the time.
Spent 6 weeks helping my mom recover from shoulder replacement surgery- twice!

We've also traveled to many places to mountain bike including Rhode Island, Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho and North Dakota. This year we're going to Oregon and to Bentonville, Arkansas.

There's lots of stuff to do out there! If something looks interesting, give it a try. It helps to have money, but if we were doing worse financially I know we would still be busy just doing less expensive stuff.
 
Car-Guy said:
The first 5 to 7 years of retirement was by far "The best of times". I was "into" my hobbies nearly 100% of the time. The next 2 or 3 years I started winding all of them down, especially the more physically demanding ones. Now I've traded ~50% of the time I was spending on hobbies by going to doctors (both DW and I) and/or taking longer naps :). I must say, hobbies were a lot more fun. Still dabbling in several of my lifelong hobbies, just at a reduced level. "The worse of times" are still some years out but I'm afraid there's no escaping them.

Now that I have some spare time, it's time to re-read Dickens, Tale of Two Cities,:) and other classics.
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Cool, what hobbies.
 
Car-Guy said:
Primary hobby "was" 60's vintage car collecting and "still is" modern sports cars for daily driving.
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Any Vettes? I'm still wishing DW would let me buy a C-8, but that ain't happenin'.
 
Great thread. DH has a 30 ft x 15 ft garden filled with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, and herbs. The yard and garden are great for hot yoga stretching :). We like our neighbors and spend time with them out to dinner, bbq, and playing games. My icon is a pic of the recent northern lights that came down to mid-southern IL. I'm involved in community volunteering. Recently did AARP tax aide. We saved local taxpayers $270,000 from high accounting fees.

There's always something. Since we live in a university town there are lots of volunteer opportunities from sports events, theater, student assistance etc. Never a dull moment. And of course, travel.
 
Koolau said:
Any Vettes? I'm still wishing DW would let me buy a C-8, but that ain't happenin'.
Click to expand...
Yep had several new Vettes, a C4, two, C5's and a C6. Drove a C7 for a while but it wasn't mine. Switched to Hellcat powered vehicles when I couldn't get in or out of the Vettes anymore. However, I "may" still get a low mileage C7 and drive it occasionally. I think the C7's are the absolutely best looking Vettes ever made. C8's are probably the best performing Vettes ever made but I still like the C7 styling the best.
 
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I've been learning Mandarin and went to China last summer to visit my teacher and put my skills to the test. Will probably do this again in Taiwan at some point, likely combined with a cooking class. Currently looking at a birding/photography lessons, and also a multi-day hiking journey along the ancient shogun trails in Japan.

Also started coaching creatives on how to align their talents with productive ventures.
 
Most enjoyable--time with Grandkids!
Planning yearly vacation with kids and grands, usually at the coast. This year we are taking them all to Hawaii.
Volunteer work at local food pantry.
Taking more frequent short trips to visit friends.

Having the ability to do what ever I want, every day--Priceless.
 
So far we have been lucky to not be limited by imagination or funds to do the things we like to do. Some pricey experiences, but lots of low-cost or free stuff, too.

Rafting the Grand Canyon with an outfitter (motorized rafts so no oars but plenty of really great hiking). Trip length 1 week.

New Zealand 2-week road trip including one of the country's Great Walks (Milford Track) -- hiked with an outfitter and stayed at their lodges along the way. Good food, drinks, company, excellent guides.

Recent long trips include 1 month in Lake Como, 6 weeks on East Coast of Australia/Tasmania, 6 weeks in SE Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia/Borneo, Bali, and Singapore). Heading to a cabin for a month in summer, then to the Dolomites/South Tyrol in Italy for a month in early autumn.

Getting/staying in shape by hiking, exercising, taking yoga classes, etc. Taking cooking classes offered at places like Sur la Table and other cooking schools. Started birding last year and enjoying picking up a new hobby and meeting nice people who are enthused to share their knowledge.

Learning other languages online - our library has Rocket Languages for free. Ongoing, excellent brain challenge.

I love not having a schedule and being able to choose what I'll do each day. Sometimes I do nothing noteworthy other than reading. It's great!
 
Even though my job was coding, I loved it so much, I got into hobby projects when I retired. I actually had hobby projects before retiring, but added mobile application development after retirement and now have native applications for Android and iPhone. But I've been retired for 10 years, and I've not been coding too much lately, although I did knock-out a voting app for my brewing club's annual festival recently.

Some things that have fallen off...brewed a lot of beer early in my retirement (and before), but I haven't brewed beer in a year or so. I don't tolerate alcohol as well any more, so having "to get rid of" 5 gallons of beer was a challenge. Still fun to go to the brewing club meetings, though.

Lost my singing voice due to surgery, so sold my bass, PA, and other related stuff because the fun of it for me was concurrent playing & singing. But I picked-up the ukulele. I'm thinking about buying a "Special 20" harmonica.

Always liked to get stuff fixed around the house and it's pretty easy with the help of YouTube. Sometimes, though, there's no YouTube for the thing I'm trying, so I make a "how-to" video and post it. Non-monetized or it would be a four-letter word (w*rk). I also showcase my "inventions" on the channel, and I'm currently uploading a series on building a portable chiller for ice cold showers. I've got my sauna build videos up there, ukulele arrangements, garbage disposal installations, garage door repairs...just a mishmash of stuff. I find it's engaging to share stories this way.

I did a lot of personal financial planning in the early retirement years, but the time required for that has fallen off; I have a few things I do routinely that don't take much time. Although I did recently write a program that parses the Fidelity PDF statement. That was a challenge and took a long time.

And travel has been a consistent thing throughout. I booked a Panama Canal trip with my dad just after I retired (glad I did, too, because he didn't last too much longer). Doing a lot of trans-Atlantic cruising, and have one planned for October. Discounting the COVID years, since retirment, I've been away from home between 15% and 30% of the time.

Learned and got certified to fly paramotor. I did my training in Spain and Portugal. The weather there wasn't perfect, but much better than here in NC. I got equipment here, but flying here is just no good. You're limited to fly at sunup or sundown. If it's warm enough to fly, you can't fly at sunup because everything is wet with dew. And the evening lul (about an hour before sunset) is flyable, but hard, because without a little headwind, it's taxing to get airborne (foot launch). So I was spoiled with easy launches from the beach, and amazing vistas to difficult launches with not much to see. I might fly again in some other school setting where there's a guide and stuff to see.

I've also become a more regular meditator. I meditated while working, but it was on again off again. It's still not a perfectly consistent practice, but it's better than it was.

Last summer we had a cruise to Iceland and Norway, so, figuring we'd have lots of midnight sun types of vistas, we got watercolors, took lessons, and I practiced sunsets (my wife practiced flowers). Then we took the water color kit on the month-long cruise. Proceeded to see almost zero sunsets, as it turns out, but I painted lots of fjords. Not great art, but not horrible.

One cool travel thing we did was to do a sailing course out of Gibratar. You live on the boat with other students getting their training. I trained on a 39 foot monohull and at the time had plans to do catamaran training (haven't done that yet...maybe some day).

It's a luxury to be able to pursue whatever I've wanted to pursue. Most days of the last 10 years, I've had stuff I was doing and wanting to do, not just filling the time. But not always. There have been spells where, usually due to my mood, I don't feel complelled by anything, so end up doing nothing. Thankfully that's not something that happens too often.
 
Zona said:
So far we have been lucky to not be limited by imagination or funds to do the things we like to do. Some pricey experiences, but lots of low-cost or free stuff, too.

Rafting the Grand Canyon with an outfitter (motorized rafts so no oars but plenty of really great hiking). Trip length 1 week.

New Zealand 2-week road trip including one of the country's Great Walks (Milford Track) -- hiked with an outfitter and stayed at their lodges along the way. Good food, drinks, company, excellent guides.

Recent long trips include 1 month in Lake Como, 6 weeks on East Coast of Australia/Tasmania, 6 weeks in SE Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia/Borneo, Bali, and Singapore). Heading to a cabin for a month in summer, then to the Dolomites/South Tyrol in Italy for a month in early autumn.

Getting/staying in shape by hiking, exercising, taking yoga classes, etc. Taking cooking classes offered at places like Sur la Table and other cooking schools. Started birding last year and enjoying picking up a new hobby and meeting nice people who are enthused to share their knowledge.

Learning other languages online - our library has Rocket Languages for free. Ongoing, excellent brain challenge.

I love not having a schedule and being able to choose what I'll do each day. Sometimes I do nothing noteworthy other than reading. It's great!
Click to expand...
Awesome list
 
Car-Guy said:
Yep had several new Vettes, a C4, two, C5's and a C6. Drove a C7 for a while but it wasn't mine. Switched to Hellcat powered vehicles when I couldn't get in or out of the Vettes anymore. However, I "may" still get a low mileage C7 and drive it occasionally. I think the C7's are the absolutely best looking Vettes ever made. C8's are probably the best performing Vettes ever made but I still like the C7 styling the best.
Click to expand...
My first Vette (C2), 4 speed, 300 HP, hydraulic lifters, both tops.....wished I still had her. (Not original photo, but the same color (Glen Green))

1965_chevrolet_corvette.jpeg
 
I have been retired 12 years. For the first 7 years we took a lot of trips in the motorhome with our 4 dogs. We saw many national parks and our family and friends all over the country. We also took cruises and recently I have been going to Europe.

I taught a college class for 7 years hence my username and still consult in my field. I have steadily volunteered although the organizations change. I have helped friends through serious illness until they died. I like to have some days planned and some not. I love not having to get dressed first thing in the morning and staying home and reading all day when I feel like it.
 
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